The Second to Last Guardian
by Cbassattack
Summary: Story takes place after Trico returns to the nest, turns out he might need some more help, but from an unexpected source...
1. chapter 1

AN: So at the end of the game with the "hidden" ending, we see that there are 3 pairs of eyes, likely our Trico, the one we fought, and the most interesting one, the baby! Im going to try and expound on this idea of continuing the adventure with the offspring.

Years had passed since the time of the master of the valleys rule. After a couple moons of Trico living out his days in relative peace and quiet, having recovered almost fully from his injuries from his brethren and the the boys humans, he was feeling particularly antsy today. So, feeling adventurous, he set out from his den, going past those noisy pots on a precarious ledge heading toward the small clearing where he howled in defiance to the master all that time ago.

Now seeing the partially intact wall he had to leap over, he steadied himself and hurled himself in the air like a missle! Just as fast as he could think, the ground on the other side came right back at him. But, now that he was on the other side of the wall, he breathed in heavily, enjoying the smell of the nest, the old dank and slighty musty smell of the once strong structures that surrounded him.

Then, he caught a fairly fresh scent, one that smelled familiar just that he couldnt place it. Now only having the mind to find the meaning of this smell, he followed it with haste!

Reaching the small lookout, he found that the scent was now very fresh. So looking about, he gazed at a footprint smaller than his own, but it had the same general shape as his.

SNAP!

Trico was so intrigued with his new find that he didnt even hear the foot falls of the creature stalking him nearby. Then, in an instant, the creature leapt forward out of the surrounding trees straight on Trico! The stranger having the advantage of suprise managed to tackle Trico to the ground and pinned him down with a strong hold on his neck. Trico though pinned to the ground had very few options, and found himself thinking of the small upright creature that wielded the mirror, how he missed the power that was awakened in him when the mirror ahone bright. If only the mostly white creature was here! Then he might have a better chance of fighting off his attacker. But, much to his fortune, said attacker suddenly released the hold on his neck.

Quickly, he got back on his feet a gave a low rumbling warning to his opposer. As he sized up his attacker, he was shocked to find that his foe was one that he had already fought before and lost horribly!

It was the female!

Trico cocked his head to the side inquisitively, still wary but cautious. For some reason she stopped her attack and was now sitting like an obedient dog, eyes sharp and bright. Her sudden change in demeanor was confusing to say the least. Now though, it seemed like she too was being cautious but oddly, _friendly_.


	2. Chapter 2

AN

: Still getting used to how to write and upload, so please be patient with me. I've decided that the "evil" Trico will be named Turi. I'm thinking of making up some backstory for her since she just kinda exists.

Turi had her fair share of ups and downs but it seemed that ever since that strange Trico and its strange pet had done battle with her, nothing seemed to be going her way. She had been trained that it was VERY dangerous to go out all without the armor and protective face mask. Unfortunately she had her face mask shattered by that detestable creature that helped and followed the Trico around. So while still having he back well protected, her face was more vulnerable and slightly less intimidating.

While moving about in the nest for any meager amount of sustenance, she unwittingly passed fairly close to the lair of her enemy imposed upon by The Master. Her quest for barrels brought her close to the edge of the wall of the nest, near where some of her brethren had been held for a while until they had "accepted" the way of The Master. Though in her search for food, she didn't register the smell of another Trico in the area as a threat. She gathered that before The Master had been destroyed, he had a Trico in there for disobedience and that it was still tethered to the ground and was no immediate threat. So, Turi continued onward. She came across a crumbling wall at the back of an outcropping. Sniffing the air, she couldn't detect and food or even anything that might resemble it, the breexe sure wasnt helping either, almost a constant billow of air moving her earthy scent away from herself and through the holes in the degraded wall. Looking about, she saw that there was in fact a small ledge that she couldn't personally use, but there were broken pillars sprinkled along the direction she wanted to go in.

Turi made her approach on the small pylons, gathering herself to jump when she heard it...

A sort of low rumble that only a couple creatures she knew could make. It had to be, it had to be another Trico! Maybe it had survived The Masters release of control! If that were the case, then that would mean that this Trico might be free to do what it pleases, like her. So she sat stock still just listening to the environment, the wind, and most importantly, the heavy footfalls of a Trico. So moving stealthily, she positioned herself as far left of the clearing as possible. Fortunately for her the wind actually stopped moving toward the wall but instead from the wall out. Maybe her luck was about to change?

Lumbering from what sounded like a cave or tunnel, was a lumbering form on all fours. It stopped for a moment to gather itself before making the necessary leap to get over the wall. In flash it had leapt, but unfortunately for the Trico, its back left talon hadn't quite been tucked up enough to avoid the wall. So, its usual gracefulness was hindered, but not lost, it somehow managed to recover in midair by flailing its' tail wildly. After making a semi-successful landing, it took a breath through its nostrils. Then, the wind shifted again. Now the wind carried a very fresh scent that the other Trico was likely to pick up on at any second now. So, she did what was drilled into her, ATTACK! Before the other Trico had even taken another breath, she had stalked her way over silently and poised to strike. Coiling her muscles she leapt forward and onto the unsuspecting Trico! Tackling him to the ground and quickly biting down on his throat, but not so much as to break his neck or pierce his skin, she shook him about to disorient him. After a few moments of struggling, he went limp and his eyes drooped. Turi, not wanting to kill or maim him waited just a second longer to make sure that this wasn't a trick and that he wouldn't attack her as soon as she let go of him, released her hold of his neck. Seeing his form laying there still but breathing, she backed off a short distance and sat on her haunches awaiting him to regain his senses.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:** Now for the hard part, actual plot in this thing!

With the odd behavior of the female Trico, our Trico was angry for the unprovoked attack. Sizing her up, he took a hesitant step forward to see her reaction. Quietly she continued to observe his approach as he took one tentative step at a time edging steadily closer to her. When Trico got about three paces away from Turi, she stood up suddenly on all fours and her eyes had a purple coloring.

Turi took interest in this Trico in particular, he moved with a sort of purpose and a light airiness. He seemed to not be overly concerned with previous events, but seemed totally entranced now with her. He looked to be on his second pair of horns, judging by the small slightly bigger lip near the base of his horns. He was young and curious about things still, so he would likely try to examine her closer provided she didn't spook him. Then as he got about 4 paces distance, she finally caught his earthy, rich scent. Involuntarily her eyes betrayed her feeling sorrow, she had fought him before...and unfortunately for him, had won.  
Turi rose to meet his approach standing slightly lower than her full height, she looked at him in earnest finding no recognition in his eyes. Then to her surprise, he dashed around her right side doing a full circle before coming back in front of her, then deftly nipped her neck playfully.  
And so it went, them playing and swiping and nipping. For a time it seemed to Trico that this female was a little weaker than him until she bounded up and headbutted his shoulder, knocking him off balance and he stumbled but recovered. From then on he had a more healthy respect for her and that surprising speed. Soon after both Tricos were getting out of breath and were panting heavily. Trico, feeling the need to drink, started to trod over to the wall he bounded over previously, looked back at her and mooed at her.  
Turi in turn walked behind him, understanding what he was trying to communicate, and waited for him to lead. Trico seeing his new friend ready, spread his grown wings as he always did before a big jump and launched himself into the air and landed perfectly on top of the wall. Looking back he saw Turi ready to do the same, and it seemed that she spread her wings a little wider to compensate for the remaining armor she had on her back. As soon as he landed on the ground he barely heard her landing on the wall over the sound of the gushing waterfall in the back of the cave.  
Trico was on a mission now though, he wanted water! glancing back at Turi to see if she was still following, he saw her midair, wings spread to slow her fall, and she landed gracefully. Trico looked at the small ledge near the edge of the pond, looked back at the pond, at the ledge, at the pond, and settled on jumping in from as high as he could. Turi, unaware of what the male in front of her was planning, was still following him with a small space between them. Then he jumped, she cocked her head as if to say, " _Oh boy, NOW what are you going to do?!",_ and she soon found the reason why.  
She had taken a few small steps forward and her front paws on the cusp, her head and neck over the edge, and found almost her whole front of her body entirely soaked for that doofus making a **HUGE** wave that slammed into the ledge and sprayed up into the air like a geyser. As a result of almost being totally drenched, she decided, " _Might as well just get in too..."._ So, taking the plunge to the cool waters, she jumped in and was surprised to find that it wasn't deep enough to have to swim, but was deep enough to come up to her soft belly plumage.  
Spotting the source of the noise in the area, she moved closer to the dazzling waterfall. The small crater that the water had eroded over time had a decent amount of plant life considering there was only a single shaft of light coming down to try and illuminate the area as best it could. Turi dipped her head under the plume and the cool water washed over her dusty feathers slowly taking all the dirt and fine debris that had fallen on her head since that train car had hit her head from a staggering height... The sight of Turi washing herself in the waterfall looked like a great idea that he had never really thought of doing before.  
He loved water now, but before the boy, he didn't even want to climb in this small pool let alone go diving great depths with his companion. He waited for her to finish washing her head and neck, but after a while of her trying to coax the water to go under her armor, his patience ran out and rumbled mildly.  
Turi, still under the water barely heard the other large creature and swiveled her head to see what he wanted and as she did that the downfall of water went right in her big ear. As the water hit her inner ear, she screeched that high pitch, heart piercing cry of pain, the same that she had heard from the Trico next to her when that small creature had pulled the sticks out of him. Dashing out of the way blindly, she plowed right into the big mass of dark wet navy blue and grey, toppling them both into the water.  
When both of them surfaced again Turi saw the ramp leading up to an opening she bolted for it, jumping the small rise. She skidded to a stop as she approached the narrow ledge with a couple pots that used to contain Trico bait.  
Carefully balancing on the small ledge, she deftly moved forward into the dimness making it into a medium sized area with two structures. One being the chain that held many Tricos in the past, and the other a couple of pillars with stairs in the center with a shack or something on the right side. Continuing forward she saw that behind a bend, there was a place she hadn't seen before. It was a patch of luscious grass highlighted by a little shaft of sunlight trickling in and warming the spot. _"Perfect"_ , she thought, sitting down in the light, then stretching out herself across the grass and more importantly in the sunlight. She lay there with her head on her front legs, eyes droopy and almost dozing when she heard her new friend drawing closer...


	4. Chapter 4

_AN: So I'm a little split with how I want this to continue on so this will likely be a pretty short chapter._

Trico, now back on his feet, started heading back to his den. He scaled the wall with ease, and ventured deeper into the closing darkness keeping his eyes on the small amount of light at the end of the tunnel. Emerging from the relative darkness, on his right was the narrow patch with those darn pots! With sure footing he crossed to the other side and entered his den.  
Not seeing his newfound compatriot, he took a breath and scented her rich earthy aroma, and it smelled like she was in his favorite spot.  
Moving a little quieter than he had been, he slunk closer to the opening of the adjoining hall. Peeking his large head around the corner, he found her laid out in a luxurious manner, her feathers now air dried and a little fluffier than they had been.  
Seeing her content and resting, he decided to do the same. Moving next to her on the grass he settled in, balling himself in the soft grass next to her.  
Hours later, the last rays of that soothing light waned then disappeared, the cold stone woke Turi up and in turn, she woke Trico from his slumber. Moving slowly, the pair stretched and yawned the sleep out of their eyes. While Turi was ready to get going, Trico was having a little more trouble standing comfortably. Trico kept putting his front talon down to test his weight on it then as he did that each time pain shot up his leg and made him whimper. At the sound of his cry, she turned around and looked at him seeing his eyes a light pink with ears flat back against his head. Curious what had her friend in pain, she gave his paws a couple inquisitive sniffs. Something was defenitely wrong, looking at his other front paw, she figured it out. One of his big talons had been broken off about halfway up and when he put his full weight on it, that exposed center pressed into the cool hard stone.  
Deciding that Trico shouldn't be moving around on a bum foot, she gently pushed his rear back to the ground. Now that he was in a sitting position, it didn't take long for him to decide that it hurt his paw too much to keep his upper body up. Laying out with his left paw tucked under him and his hurt one stretched out in front of him, not finding that too comfortable, he stretched out both his paws finding that a little better. Looking pitifully at his friend, he looked down and away from her in defeat and disappointment.  
Maneuvering around him and standing in front of him for a while, it looked like he had gone back to sleep. Now in the relative darkness of the evening, she looked him over once more just to be sure he was fine. Making her mind up that she would help this brave male with escaping the nest, after seeing him return his small companion to that village nearly killing himself in the process. Determined that if Trico could do that amazing feat, then she would help him recover and escape the nest. Assured now that he was fine, she curled up right next to his warm fluffy down feathers and quickly went to sleep as well.


End file.
